To Love Without Acknowledgement
by Cinderfire16
Summary: A warrior and a medicine cat fall in love and it goes without saying.


Based on this prompt that I came across on Facebook but likely originated elsewhere:

 _"Imagine: a medicine cat and a warrior who love each other a lot but are so bound to the warrior code that they never confess, ever. The warrior never takes on a mate and they try to conceal their love for each other by never saying it but instead they so it with lingering gazes and making sure the other knows it when their favorite is on the fresh-kill_ _pile."_

* * *

 _Cats in order of appearance_

 **Skunkflight** \- solid black tom with a thick stripe of white running down his back from head to tail-tip, amber eyes.

 **Rosethorn** \- pale red she-cat with cream underpelt and stripes, blue eyes.

 **Paleclaw** \- Rosethorn's father, solid cream tom, green eyes

 **Greystar** \- solid light grey tom with darker grey paws and ears, blue eyes.

 **Longthorn** \- silver and black patched tom with long ears, green eyes.

* * *

"Skunkflight? What kind of name is that?" A laugh bubbled up in her friend's throat.

"It's better than Rosethorn. I mean, that's just the exact opposite of what a rose actually is."

"The flowers have thorns, you addle-headed tom!" She scowled playfully.

* * *

It starts when they're apprentices. She breaks away to become a medicine cat because she's really not good at fighting, even though her mentor will maintain that she's the best hunter in the Clan. On the other paw, she seems to have taken his hunting skill with her, because all the practice in the world didn't make up for the fact that he wasn't the one bringing back the fresh-kill. Give him border patrol anyday.

* * *

They don't fall in love at first, but slowly enough they do. She's just so pretty and funny and wonderful to be around. But he can't be around her often, be then someone might find out. He's thought about becoming her apprentice, being a medicine cat right alongside her. He decided against it. That wasn't his forte. He'd deal out the blows and she'd rather die than see any cat get hurt on her watch. It made her a good medicine cat, but it was also concerning.

He had her father bring up the possibility of a guardian to the leader. Greystar shook his head.

"We don't have the warriors to spare a constant guard, but if you're really that concerned then pick a warrior and see how they feel about it."

It wasn't him. Never could be. She wasn't his destiny and he wasn't hers. She probably didn't even like him like that, and sure she was pretty, but most she-cats were. Why should she be any different?

Her favorite fresh-kill was crow. They were pretty rare in the forest, but whenever he saw one, he'd be sure to keep an eye on it. Get someone else to catch it. The one time he'd tried to catch it himself, he fell out of a tree and almost broke his front left leg. It still flared up every now and then.

* * *

He was pretty respectable, for a tom. She made sure to keep an eye out for him, but not too much of one. She didn't even know if he likes her that much, and it was against the code for her to take a mate.

She understood the reasoning behind the rule, but it had caused plenty of problems in the past. She wouldn't be that cat. She liked being a medicine cat too much to dare go against the code. She'd worked too hard just to throw it away over a tom. Even if he is one of the most eligible toms in the Clan… she wouldn't wait for him and she didn't expect him to wait for her. But for all the she-cats interested in him, he didn't budge. He seemed determined to keep a vow of his own.

She knew that he was the one behind the cross on the fresh-kill pile. Crows were rare, and he couldn't hunt if you hooked a mouse between your claws and had him pounce on it. But a crow ended up in the fresh-kill pile every few seasons, and she knew who the thank if she wanted to.

* * *

She dies first, many seasons after her apprentice is trained and the Clan is left in good paws. She's not an elder yet, maybe a few seasons more and she would be, but she dies first. It's no mystery as to how she died. She went on a hunting patrol one day and they ran into a fox. Try as they might, the warrior and the medicine cat on patrol are slaughtered, and the apprentice barely survives.

The apprentice goes on to become a warrior, Longthorn. He has a scar over one eye and never fully recovers his emotions. He's not wrong in the head, but don't ever take him on a patrol with the medicine cat. He'll panic and claw anything that moves in their direction.

But Longthorn will be okay. Skunkflight will survive. Rosethorn could've been his entire world, but he had a duty to the rest of his Clan. Beside, if he did something as stupid as going to StarClan, the others would figure out far too easily. So he grieves and moves on. He still doesn't bother with mating. He never saw a point to it.

He dies at the claws of the same fox that killed Rosethorn. She's the one who leads him to StarClan.

* * *

They never truly say it, and no one ever confirmed it, but there were suspicions. And when the deputy, Longthorn, goes to the Moonstone to get his nine lives, Rosethorn and Skunkflight sit side-by-side, pelts pressed together. The black tom grinned at Longthorn and the red she-cat dipped her head solemnly.

"Welcome, Longthorn, are you ready to receive your nine lives?" The voices of countless StarClan cats blended into one, but he kept his eyes trained on the two who had changed his life.


End file.
